Chapter 5

Rogue leaned her head against the car window, and tried her best not to listen to Kurt's assurances that things would get better for her. Her brother had an oddly optimistic view of life—despite all of the many reasons he had not to—and it often ended up clashing with her own dark perspective. Kurt honestly believed that Bayville would be good for them, and that Irene was making their mother happy. He didn't understand why Rogue couldn't seem to adapt. Rogue sighed and tried to make out shapes in the quickly passing clouds above them.

"Sometimes, I vonder, vhy I even try to talk to you vhen you are like this," Kurt muttered with a half amused, half annoyed voice.

"Ah don't know either," Rogue agreed sparing a glance at her brother. It was like he just didn't understand anymore.

Proving her point, Kurt laughed. "You vill listen someday," he told her warmly.

"Why should Ah? You didn't listen when Ah begged you to come to school with me," she reminded him bitterly.

Kurt murmured a few German curse words under his breath. "You know vhy I vanted not to come to Bayville High," he said softly.

If there was one thing they had in common, it was that they were both considered to be outcasts—though for entirely different reasons. Rogue, for the most part, chose to set herself against the norm with her dyed hair and slightly goth clothing. Kurt was merely born different. Born with a severely cleft palate and other smaller facial deformities, Kurt didn't get to benefit from their mother's good looks. His upper lip was scarred and somewhat immovable over his uneven teeth, his nose was slightly off center, and his ears were malformed making them look pointed. All of his distorted features gave Kurt a demonic look that belied his caring nature. Somewhere along the line, people started to call him "Elf"—a nickname that hurt him more than he ever let on. Kurt's appearance may seem a bit disturbing to some people, but Rogue only saw the brother she had loved and adored all of her life. She tended to notice the mischief shining in his blue eyes and how impish he looked with his shaggy, dark hair than she did his deformities. Other people didn't, and Rogue truly did understand why he had chosen cyber school.

"Ah hate feeling alone all the damn time," Rogue admitted resentfully.

Pulling to the side of the road, Kurt put the car into park. Neither of them spoke for what seemed like forever. Finally, Kurt reached out and touched Rogue's shoulder.

"Vould it help if I came to Bayville for senior year?" he asked "I vill enroll tomorrow, if you think it vould help."

Rogue swallowed hard. She knew he meant it. Kurt really would be willing to let himself be thrown to wolf packs of high school social cliques just to be there for her, but deep down they both knew that it would all be for nothing. Despite their past closeness, Rogue knew that she still couldn't talk to him about anything that was going on in her head. It would be just plain selfish for her to expect him to put up with the kind of ridicule they both knew he'd have to go through just so she could feel a tiny bit better about her life.

"It won't help," she told him truthfully.

"Rogue, I vould go back and change everything if I could, but ve both know zhat nothing can change the past. Vhy von't you let me help you vith the future?" he asked. "Talk to me. Tell me vhatever you vant. I don't care. I von't judge you."

"Ah know you won't. Ah….it's just that…Ah can't." Rogue looked away. "It's complicated."

Kurt sighed and started the engine. "Another time then."

"Another time."

When they pulled up to the Xavier mansion, Rogue noted that there were two other cars parked near her mother's. She rolled her eyes at the thought of meeting more of Irene's stuffy, faux intellectual friends. If her mother hadn't threatened to extend her grounding into the next school year, she never would have come. She hated parties. She hated Irene. She hated everything about this situation.

Rogue and Kurt made their was to the back terrace of the mansion where Irene and Raven were seated near another couple Rogue hadn't seen before. Raven smiled at them warmly—almost like she was happy to see them both. "I thought we were going to need to send a search party for you two," she teased lightly.

Kurt let out a small chuckle. "We took a slight detour," he lied. Rogue knew that he would never tell anyone why they were really late.

Raven turned to the man and woman beside her. "These are my children, Kurt and Rogue. And this is Dr. Henry McCoy and his wife Ororo."

After murmuring pleasantries, Dr. McCoy asked: "Has anyone seen the boys recently?"

"I think they are still playing basket ball," Irene answered. She turned her head toward Rogue and Kurt. "You two can go join in, if you want."

Rogue's initial reaction was to ask if she could just go sit in the car, but she knew that her mother wouldn't like that. Given the choice between sitting with Irene or playing basketball, she wasn't really sure which would be less painful. She was just about to say that she would stay, when Kurt said that he was going to go play. There was no way in hell she would willingly spend time with Irene, and thus her choice was made. Without a word, she trailed after her brother.

Once they were out of earshot, Kurt looked over to her. "Don't you think zhat you could be at least a little friendlier?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah didn't tell her to screw herself."

Kurt sighed. "Thank god for small miracles."

Rogue wasn't surprised to see Scott on the court when they arrived. She had seen him shooting hoops in the afternoons some days, but her brother seemed rather surprised that a blind guy could play the way Scott did. They watched unnoticed for a few minutes before the black boy playing with Scott spotted them.

"Hey guys," he said cordially. "You're Raven's kids right?"

"Ya," Kurt returned bobbing his head in an almost comical fashion. "I am Kurt and this is my sister Rogue."

"I'm Evan and that's Scott," he said tossing a look over to where the auburn haired boy stood. Scott seemed to be hanging back as much as Rogue was, but he did murmur hello at least. To his credit, Evan didn't seem to be staring at Kurt like he was some sort of circus freak, and he didn't seem to think Rogue was the anti-christ. "You guys wanna play horse?" he asked.

Kurt smiled. "I haven't played any sports since I started cyber school," he admitted sheepishly.

"So? Scott's blind, and I didn't make the varsity team," Evan quipped.

"Vell, I guess I am in," Kurt said with a laugh. He turned to his sister. "Rogue?"

Rogue shifted uneasily. She hated being put on the spot. "Nah. Ah think Ah'll just watch for now."

Though Kurt was disappointed, he didn't outright say so. He just frowned a bit.

Rogue parked her self on the metal bench just outside of the court and pulled out her earphones from her pocket. She really didn't have any desire to listen to the boys ripping on each other. With Cradle of Filth screaming in her ears, she watched the three of them play one game—which Evan won. She had to smile at Kurt's absolute lack of skill. To her surprise, Scott excused himself from the other two and made his way over to the bench.

Scott reach out a hand to find the seat and then plopped himself down beside her uninvited. To be honest, he was a lot closer than Rogue preferred. Her initial instinct was to turn up the volume and pretend to ignore him, but for some reason she turned off her iPod.

"Your brother seems really nice," Scott commented awkwardly. It was the first he'd spoken to her since their collision over two weeks ago.

"He is nice," she agreed. "Evan doesn't seem too bad."

Scott smiled. "Don't let him fool you. This is one of his good days. So you don't know Evan from Bayville High?"

Rogue shook her head, but then immediately felt foolish. "No, Ah don't really pay much attention to my classmates," she admitted.

"You're a sophmore this year?" he asked.

"Junior," she corrected. "Ah can't wait to be done."

Scott nodded understandingly. "I'm actually transferring to Bayville for my senior year."

"Why would you do something like that?" she asked in amazement. Why would anyone subject themselves to public school?

He shrugged. "A change of pace. I've never been to a 'normal' school before—or at least one that I can remember. I guess I thought I should spend some time with sighted people before moving off to college."

"You've been here your whole life?"

"Since I was six. Irene took me in when no one else wanted me. She gave me a home," he told her. "My parents died in an accident, and blind kids aren't usually the first ones to be adopted."

A tiny bubble of shame started to grow in Rogue's stomach. She couldn't imagine living in one place her whole life, let alone not having any family at all. Her family might be a strange one, but they were a family nonetheless. All this time, Raven had been going on and on about what a good person Irene was. Rogue still didn't really believe the woman was a saint, but she couldn't be all bad if she'd given Scott a place to stay.

"So you must really hate me then," she said softly.

Scott sighed. "I'm not going to lie; I'm still pretty pissed. Mostly though, I just don't understand."

"Ah'd be pissed too," she admitted. "Ah didn't think anyone would get so upset 'bout it, but Ah guess that was really stupid. Ah'm sorry, Scott."

"I'm not really the one who you should be apologizing to, but thanks," he said. "So was that Cradle of Filth you were listening to?"

"You heard that?" Rogue asked in pure amazement. No one around here knew who Cradle of Filth were and even if they did, how had he heard that?

Scott laughed. "I don't have super sonic hearing or anything. You had it cranked up pretty loud. Plus, I tend to pay more attention to sounds around me than most sighted people. Call it a trick of the trade."

"Ah'm shocked you know the band."

"Why?"

"Ya jus don't seem like a black metal kinda guy," Rogue told him holding back a laugh.

"It's kind of hard to paint your nails black when you can't see," he joked. "I listen to just about any kind of music. My CD's have taken over most of my room."

"Mine would too, but Ah've more with itunes. Ever listen to Cannibal Corpse?"